Suggestion
I strongly request adjustments and improvements to the following behaviors so that players feel the weapon is “fun” and “satisfying” to control.
Speed up the guard transition from Instant Guard.
Please make the guard transition from Instant Guard faster, and ideally match it to the activation speed of Sword Mode’s guard (a mechanic where the guard hitbox activates immediately upon input).
Reduce the recovery from Attribute Release Slash II, or improve the guard transition speed.
Please either reduce the recovery from Attribute Release Slash II itself, or allow the player to cancel into a guard action such as Instant Guard from a much earlier point in the move’s animation.
If Instant Guard becomes easier to use and offers a higher reward after a guard, I think players will be more inclined to adopt a defensive guard playstyle and a more aggressive offense.
Current Status
There are two aspects of the “Axe Boost” style for the Charge Axe that I feel significantly undermine the “fun” and “satisfying” feel of the weapon as a game.
The guard transition speed from Instant Guard is too slow.
When holding to input Instant Guard while in Axe Mode, there is a significant time lag (a vulnerable transition animation) between completing the input and the guard hitbox actually activating.
Even if I input the guard at the same timing as a dodge (flick), the guard activates too late, causing me to get hit, which effectively renders it non-functional.
With this issue, I cannot utilize the Charge Axe’s greatest appeal, which is its wide variety of options, and I’m left with dodge as my only real option, making the weapon feel very unenjoyable as a game.
The recovery (vulnerability) after Attribute Release Slash II is too long.
“Attribute Release Slash II,” the main source of damage for the Axe Boost style, has far too much recovery after the move is executed.
Because of this recovery, I can’t react in time to a monster’s counterattack and am forced into safe actions like standing still to wait for an attack to guard, or dodging and playing it safe with low-recovery vertical slashes. This ruins the satisfying feeling of executing a full combo. Furthermore, as a player, I always want to be doing something, so standing still and waiting for an attack is not fun, and the character’s idle stance looks awkward.